I. Field
The following description relates generally to wireless communications, and, amongst other things, to flexible communication schemes for wireless communications systems.
II. Background
Over the last several years, wireless communications technologies have evolved from analog-driven systems (which are expensive to maintain and operate) to digital (packet-switched) systems. In conventional analog systems, analog signals are relayed on a forward link and a reverse link and typically require a significant amount of bandwidth to enable signals to be transmitted and received while being associated with suitable quality. Over time, however, network technology has evolved such that many networks are packet-switched networks, thereby allowing, for instance, Internet traffic to be relayed over a wireless link. More particularly, packet-switched systems allow data packets to be converted to analog signals and transmitted by way of a physical channel between an access terminal and a base station, router, etc. Additionally, packet-switched networks enable digital data to be relayed in its natural form (e.g., text, Internet data, . . . ).
To ensure that there is not a significant amount of data loss on an over-the-air (OTA) connection, a Radio Link Protocol (RLP) or other suitable protocol can be employed. RLP is an automatic repeat request protocol used over a wireless air interface, and can be utilized to reduce packet loss to a level that is suitable for Internet applications. Pursuant to an example, frames suitable for transmission over a physical channel can include a header, and information within such header can indicate a sequence number of the frame. The frames can be transmitted in a desired sequence to an access terminal, which can then analyze the headers to order the frames and ensure that a suitable number of frames have been received (e.g., one or more frames were not lost).
In certain network architectures, separate logical (and/or physical) entities are utilized with respect to providing an air interface to an access terminal and providing a point of attachment to the Internet for the access terminal. For instance, an example network architecture can include transceiver modules that provide an air interface attachment to an access terminal, wherein the transceiver modules can be communicatively coupled to a network module, which can provide an Internet attachment point for the access terminal. In such an architecture, conventionally the network module is charged with generating data packets and framing the data packets such that they can be transmitted to the access terminal over-the-air by a transceiver module. A transceiver module receives the frame and transmits the frame to the access terminal.